Alaska Air Cargo brings season's first Copper River Salmon to Seattle
Alaska Air Cargo delivered about 17,200 pounds of wild Alaska Copper River Salmon – the first of several shipments scheduled this season
The Copper River Salmon season typically lasts from mid-May through mid-June
Alaska Air Cargo brings the season's first fresh salmon to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, straight from Alaska's freezing Copper River.
Alaska Air Cargo delivered about 17,200 pounds of wild Alaska Copper River Salmon – the first of several shipments scheduled this season, which runs now through September. Copper River Seafoods sponsored this year's 'first fish', which weighed 30 pounds.
Copper River Salmon delivered by Alaska Air Cargo is as fresh as possible to grocery shops and restaurants across the country, owing in part to a cool chain training programme required of all airline personnel who handle perishables.
Greg McDole and Jim Kostko, Copper River Seafoods.
The Copper River Salmon season typically lasts from mid-May through mid-June. According to the Copper River Marketing Association, a Copper River Salmon may grow to be 50 pounds or more.
"Our employees follow strict seafood quality standards and pass an annual food quality course. The goal is to keep seafood moving rapidly throughout its journey on Alaska Airlines and maintain a consistent temperature range from the time it leaves the water to when it arrives at stores and restaurants," says the official release.
According to the Copper River Marketing Association, Copper River salmon must travel 300 miles from the ocean, where they have spent their adult lives, across rough terrain and freezing waterways to reach their breeding grounds, a trek that requires extra energy stores in the form of fat.
